Almost forgot I had this one. The 1974 Famous First Edition reprint of Sensation 1, cover-date Jan. 1942. Wonder Woman’s second appearance, hitting the stands just a few weeks after she debuted in All-Star 8. Cover by longtime WW artist HG Peter, but looks like some of those figures might have been reworked by someone else. They don’t look as cartoony as most of his work.
This is a fascinating issue in that Sensation was the last of DC’s anthology titles, arriving just a few months after Star-Spangled. Most of the features in this issue had lengthy Sensation runs.
We start off with “Wonder Woman Comes to America,” laying the groundwork for much of the Amazon’s career. William M. Marston handled the writing and Peter the art on this title for years. Marston passed away in the late 40s. Peter soldiered on til passing away in the late 50s, when he was still drawing the title at age 78.
The other features :
- Black Pirate, swashbuckling character set in the 1700s. Had actually debuted in Action in 1940 and appeared in about 20 issues there before being transferred to Sensation. Made about 45 Sensation appearances til again being moved to All-American in 1946. He’d make about 25 appearances there.
BP story and art by Sheldon Moldoff, who would go on to be one of Bob Kane’s ghost artists on Batman for many years. Here, he uses a more realistic style along the lines of Will Eisner or Lou Fine.
- Mr. Terrific, super-smart Terry Sloan uses his intellect and abilities to fight crime. Kinda generic, but noteworthy for the unique “Fair Play” emblem he wore on the front of his costume. He’s wearing yellow gloves here. Not sure how long that look lasted. MT would last 63 issues in Sensation, til 1947. He made only one appearance with the JSA in All-Star, but that was enough for him to be represented as a major member of the group during the Silver Age comeback.
Story by Charles Reizenstein (43 DC story credits til 1943) and art – also somewhat generic - by Hal Sharp, who would rack up 63 DC art credits on MT, Flash and Tarantula til 1947.
- The Gay Ghost, British nobleman Keith Everet is killed and resurrected as a spirit in modern times. He inhabits the body of murdered playboy Charles Collins and befriends Deborah Wallace, the reincarnation of a past love. Later would manifest powers similar to that of the Spectre – strength, invulnerability, growing to giant size, etc. GG would make 34 Sensation appearances – issues 1-33 and one more in 38 – then dissipate by 1945.
Story by comics legend Gardner Fox and nicely done art by Howard Purcell, who drew almost 500 stories and 60 covers for DC from the early 40s to late 60s but is largely forgotten today, mostly because his features never crossed over to other media. Purcell started drawing Mark Lansing (?) in Adventure but did most of his early Golden Age work on GG, Sargon and Red, White & Blue. In the late 40s, he drew mostly Green Lantern and Hop Harrigan. In 1948 he was tabbed to draw Mr. District Attorney and wld handle most issues and covers for that title over its 67-issue, 11-year run.
In the 50s and 60s, Purcell would do a great deal of work for DC’s sci-fi and suspense titles and also wld draw numerous stories featuring Sea Devils and Space Ranger, including several Sea Devils covers as well.
See what I mean? With the exception of GL, most of Purcell’s 25+ year DC output was Mark Lansing, Sargon, Red, White & Blue, Hop Harrigan, Mr. DA, Sea Devils and Space Ranger. Many of these characters are little known even by hardcore DC fans.
- Little Boy Blue, Tommy Rogers, young son of a district attorney, and two pals (the Blue Boys), don costumes and fight crime. Story by batman co-creator Bill Finger and unexceptional art by Jon Blummer, best known for drawing many adventures of Hop Harrigan. Lighter tone of stories may have helped it stick around through the first 82 issues of Sensation, lasting til 1948.
- Wildcat, boxer Ted Grant uses his fighting skills to fight crime. Story again by Finger with wonderfully primal art by Irwin Hasen. Wildcat appeared in the first 90 issues of Sensation - til 1949 – and in two issues with the JSA in All-Star. Even moreso than Mr. Terrific, Wildcat has been more popular from the Silver Age to today, appearing with almost every incarnation of the JSA.
Hasen notched around 230 DC art credits from 1940-55, drawing a lot of GL stories and quite a few Wildcats. He’d go on to greater fame – in the world outside of comic books – for the long-running comic strip Dondi.
Wildcat, Mr. Terrific and Little Boy Blue also would appear in Big All-American Comic Book, a 128-page one-shot from 1944. That title would feature rare cover appearances for those three features – in fact, for LBB and the Blue Boys, Big All-American wld provide them with their one and only cover appearance.
Different features would occupy Sensation over the years, but it’s impressive that three of the five non-cover features would last 60+ issues in the title.
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